WARNING: The following post might sound incredibly awe-inspiring, or horribly alike the bullshitter-extraordinare in me.
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"I have lived life to the fullest"
"Come on, life is meant to be lived"
"Carpe diem!"
These many quotes are about doing what we really want, making best use of opportunities that present themselves to us over the course of our existence on this planet; in a very detached sense they are about doing something, be it for the betterment of ourselves, or to our ultimate detriment.
It sometimes puzzles me too, that when people talk about faith, about a God, about the extraordinary, that we take this very detached element and use it to discuss. In my opinion, this should not be the case, it should relate to what we do in life. Our choices, basically. For example, if you see a person drowning, would you save the person? Some of us won't, because we run the risk of drowning. Some of us would, because we put ourselves in that person's shoes (what would happen if it was me? My life would end there and then), or even in that person's loved ones shoes (how would I feel if I found out that someone was there, but didn't save my loved one?). Then we make a conscious decision.
I find it pretty tragic, that although many people occasionally bring up the notion of a heaven and hell, and that we will all be judged on what we do over the course of our lives, that more often than not these people are also ignorant about the many deaths that happen around us. One of the most common, I'm afraid, are those of children, be it in infant stage, or even up to toddler stage, especially in places where they are more vulnerable (such as in poorer, third world countries). Being people who have had not understood the notion of right or wrong, good or bad, etc, are they to be bound to the very same rules of heaven and hell? What about the life that was meant to be lived?
It is exactly this reason why we should, indeed, do what we can with our lives, while we still have empowerment over our choices.
Handicapped people in many ways deserve our pity, yet some of them try so much harder to succeed, to break through the seemingly insurmountable barriers that get in their way than us that it's really humbling to witness such feats. There was once a test that was done, on what sense would we rather lose, if we had to lose one. The testers purposely fixed either sight or hearing, for those were the two most common senses voted as "the ones that people would fear to lose over the course of their lives", and a strong majority went to sight. Personally, the only reason why I would be sad if such an occurrence happened *touch wood* would be that falling into a disability would hamper my efforts to actually take care of myself, or my family (in the future) as it adds extra burden to the ones already there. In many ways this actually does show how much harder life is for handicapped people.
There are many others things that go through my mind on what suffering many have gone through, and I strongly believe it should be something to contemplate about, when reflecting on what we have gone through, and will be going through in life.
While we still have the choice, while we still have the power in our hands, we should do what we think is right.
Will you?
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"I have lived life to the fullest"
"Come on, life is meant to be lived"
"Carpe diem!"
These many quotes are about doing what we really want, making best use of opportunities that present themselves to us over the course of our existence on this planet; in a very detached sense they are about doing something, be it for the betterment of ourselves, or to our ultimate detriment.
It sometimes puzzles me too, that when people talk about faith, about a God, about the extraordinary, that we take this very detached element and use it to discuss. In my opinion, this should not be the case, it should relate to what we do in life. Our choices, basically. For example, if you see a person drowning, would you save the person? Some of us won't, because we run the risk of drowning. Some of us would, because we put ourselves in that person's shoes (what would happen if it was me? My life would end there and then), or even in that person's loved ones shoes (how would I feel if I found out that someone was there, but didn't save my loved one?). Then we make a conscious decision.
I find it pretty tragic, that although many people occasionally bring up the notion of a heaven and hell, and that we will all be judged on what we do over the course of our lives, that more often than not these people are also ignorant about the many deaths that happen around us. One of the most common, I'm afraid, are those of children, be it in infant stage, or even up to toddler stage, especially in places where they are more vulnerable (such as in poorer, third world countries). Being people who have had not understood the notion of right or wrong, good or bad, etc, are they to be bound to the very same rules of heaven and hell? What about the life that was meant to be lived?
It is exactly this reason why we should, indeed, do what we can with our lives, while we still have empowerment over our choices.
Handicapped people in many ways deserve our pity, yet some of them try so much harder to succeed, to break through the seemingly insurmountable barriers that get in their way than us that it's really humbling to witness such feats. There was once a test that was done, on what sense would we rather lose, if we had to lose one. The testers purposely fixed either sight or hearing, for those were the two most common senses voted as "the ones that people would fear to lose over the course of their lives", and a strong majority went to sight. Personally, the only reason why I would be sad if such an occurrence happened *touch wood* would be that falling into a disability would hamper my efforts to actually take care of myself, or my family (in the future) as it adds extra burden to the ones already there. In many ways this actually does show how much harder life is for handicapped people.
There are many others things that go through my mind on what suffering many have gone through, and I strongly believe it should be something to contemplate about, when reflecting on what we have gone through, and will be going through in life.
While we still have the choice, while we still have the power in our hands, we should do what we think is right.
Will you?
4 replies to this post:
Living life to the fullest, I often find the people saying this kind of lame.
So your life is lived to the fullest. Enjoyed and did all you wanted to.
But all that just brings satisfaction to yourself, or maybe the people close to you. How many strangers are you willing to sacrifice money (to mention the least)for?
I strongly agree to faith along what we can relate to in our daily lives. What's the point of discussing something you've never closely experienced, in the hand of your own choices?
Such is the notion of heaven and hell, the deserving or undeserving, has anyone been to heaven that can tell me what an eternity of bliss is like. Or hell, with an eternity of suffering. Apparently God is noble, ready to sacrifice, and ready to forgive, but apparently keeps a good record of people staying in hell for eternity.
We should always be true what we understand, not to be lead by something just because the majority agrees, or simply because it has been handed down by tradition.
I agree with your statement that living life to the fullest is a rather selfish type of comment. Then again, I suppose it boils down to who we are, and what we would define as a "successful" life or ... not :P
On the topic of belief, indeed, it is difficult to grasp a concept that we have not properly understood. While we can repeat rhetorics, which have probably been "justified" by much better educated people than we are, when it comes to interpretation of what a certain belief lives by, that is the point we come unstuck. I suppose that's the difference between a scholar and an extremist.
There is an interesting post to follow up on the issue, if you are interested on reading about what other people think of belief:
http://mysteryofpeter.blogspot.com/2008/04/essence-of-god-part-i.html
(This is Petrotoxin's blog) :)
Read it.. and I think its better to go back to what we experienced ourselves and think is right.
Does it really matter whether god exists or not?
People who say they fight for god, that's just an excuse (conciously or not) for something they want. Since when did god actually show up and tell them he'd like people killed?
In fact, since when did god show up at all. He seems to hold alot of responsibility for never being there huh.
anyway... debates are useful, but sometimes im just put off by people arguing over religion.
Whether he exists or not isn't really an issue, all those people arguing heatedly over it just reflects how much they'd like to cling on it to prove something.
Maybe some think relying on god's word is just stupid, but at the root of things its just a motivated faith that asks people to do good.
Misunderstandings of religion were created by selfish desires. I wonder what those who try to argue over these see religion as. Maybe they don't really understand people, or prefer to be ignorant for some reasons.
Yeah, I see your points there. Indeed, sometimes when debates about whether indeed there is a God does go overboard - and it certainly has been going on for a long time. I suppose what is important is that we do what is beneficial to ourselves while respecting the needs of others, whether this is guided by religion, philosophy, or teaching, that is a separate thing.
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